In the automotive sector, Honda, Japan's second-largest car company, says it earned $1.3 billion in the second quarter, up 58 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Honda attributes the results to brisk sales of its cars and motorcycles in the United States and across Asia.

But Honda says the fluctuating Japanese currency cut its revenue by $100 million in the first six months of the year. Appreciation of the yen hurts the earnings of Japanese exporters such as Honda by making the products more expensive for overseas buyers.